POKEMON GOLD, SILVER AND CRYSTAL DV AND HIDDEN POWER GUIDE

Hidden Power is an attack that can vary in power and type, depending on the user's DVs, or Deter Values. DVs are like built-in Pokemon genes - they determine how strong a certain Pokemon can be. Each Pokemon that you fight has a random DV for every stat, ranging from 0 - 15. If the Pokemon has 15 for a DV, then it can have the max possible stat for that specie. Likewise, if it has a DV of 0, then it will have the lowest possible stat.

In order to determine your Pokemon's DVs, it is recommended that they are at Level 100 or Level 50 with all/none of their Stat Experience.

So, let's say you have your Pokemon at Level 100 with all of its Stat Exp. Great! Now we can determine its DVs. I will be using my level 100 Houndoom as an example throughout the rest of this explanation.

DV

# off max stat at lv 100

15

-0

14

-2

13

-4

12

-6

11

-8

10

-10

9

-12

8

-14

7

-16

6

-18

5

-20

4

-22

3

-24

2

-26

1

-28

0

-30

Houndoom's max stats

My Houndoom's stats

Explanation

DV

Atk

278

250

My Houndoom's Attack rating is 28 off from max stat, so according to the chart, its DV for Attack is 1.

1

Def

198

184

My Houndoom's Defense rating is 18 off max stat, so its Defense DV is 8.

8

Spd

288

262

My Houndoom's Speed is 26 off max stat, giving a DV of 2 for Speed.

2

Spec Atk

318

314

My Houndoom's Special ratings are 4 off from max stat, so the Special DV is 13.

13

Spec Def

258

254

Now that we know how to determine DVs, let's take a look at Hidden Power's base damage formula:

BASE DAMAGE = ((5 × X + Y) ÷ 2) + 31

X = Attack/Defense/Speed/Special DV

Y = Special DV (max 3)

So what does all this mean? Let's use my trained Houndoom as an example.

To figure out what X is in the Base Damage Formula, take each of your Pokemon's DVs(Attack/Defense/Speed/Special) and convert each value into a 0 if it's 7 or less, or into a 1 if it's 8 or more. My Houndoom's DVs are 1/8/2/13, so I'd convert that into 0101. Do you see why? The 1 is less than 7, so I convert it to 0. The 8 is 8 or more, so I convert it to a 1, and so on. Make sense?

This 4-digit number that you come up with is called a "binary number". You have to convert this binary number into a normal number by using the following chart:

Binary

#

0000

0

0001

1

0010

2

0011

3

0100

4

0101

5

0110

6

0111

7

1000

8

1001

9

1010

10

1011

11

1100

12

1101

13

1110

14

1111

15

So with the 4-digit binary number I came up with for my Houndoom, I look at the chart and see that the binary number 0101 is equal to the number 5. So in our base damage equation, X = 5.

To get the value of Y in the equation, all we need is the Special DV. The max value for Y is 3, so if your DV is 1, then Y = 1. If your DV is 2, Y = 2. If your DV is anywhere from 3 to 15, then Y = 3. Using my Houndoom as an example, its Special DV is 13, so Y = 3 for me.

Now we have all the information we need to determine the base damage of your Pokemon's Hidden Power! Let's go back to the equation and execute it using my Houndoom as our example.

Equation

Step-by-step

((5 × X + Y) ÷ 2) + 31

This is our equation. We'll start working on the innermost set of parenthesis.

((5 × 5 + Y) ÷ 2) + 31

This is the binary Attack/Defense/Speed/Special DV (remember, 7 or less is 0, 8 or more is 1). 0101 is equal to 5, so we replace X with 5.

((5 × 5 + 3) ÷ 2) + 31

This is the Special DV. Houndoom's DV was 13, and since the largest number Y can be is 3, Y = 3.

We finished with the first set of parenthesis, so now we work on the next set.28 ÷ 2 = 14.

45

Add the two numbers together. 14 + 31 = 45.

Now we know that if my Houndoom used Hidden Power, it would be an attack with 45 power. But what about the type?

To determine the type of your Pokemon's Hidden Power, you take the Attack and Defense DVs and convert them to binary. For my Houndoom, that would be DVs of 1 and 8, so I'd use the numbers 0001 (1) and 1000 (8).

In order to find the type, you use the last two digits of the binary Attack and Defense DVs and combine them. The number I would use would be 0100. Then, after you combine those, take your new number and refer to the following chart to determine the type:

According to the table, the binary number 0100, or 4, is the number for a Rock type attack.

So if my Houndoom used Hidden Power, it would attack with a Rock type attack with 45 power.

For those of you who do online Pokemon battling or own a Gameshark, it is very easy to get a desired Hidden Power type with 70 power. You could either use the information on this page to figure it out (and it only takes a few seconds, after you've got the hang of it), or you could allow me to think for you and use our pre-determined Hidden Power DV combo chart.

Binary

#

Type

1111

15

Dark

1110

14

Dragon

1101

13

Ice

1100

12

Psychic

1011

11

Electric

1010

10

Grass

1001

9

Water

1000

8

Fire

0111

7

Steel

0110

6

Ghost

0101

5

Bug

0100

4

Rock

0011

3

Ground

0010

2

Poison

0001

1

Flying

0000

0

Fighting

Keep in mind that in order to have a Hidden Power with 70 power, all that you need are DVs of 8-15 in every stat. Also remember that you only need to change the Attack and Defense DVs in order to alter the type of Hidden Power you have. You can always have DVs of 15 Speed and 15 Special without affecting Hidden Power's type.

The following table contains the highest DVs possible to achieve a certain Hidden Power type. All combos will yield 70 base damage when used with Speed and Special DVs of 8-15.

Type

Attack DV

Defense DV

Dark

15

15

Dragon

15

14

Ice

15

13

Psychic

15

12

Electric

14

15

Grass

14

14

Water

14

13

Fire

14

12

Steel

13

15

Ghost

13

14

Bug

13

13

Rock

13

12

Ground

12

15

Poison

12

14

Flying

12

13

Fighting

12

12

POKEMON GOLD, SILVER AND CRYSTAL HIDDEN POWER CALCULATOR

This tool will calculate the base power and type of Hidden Power given a Pokemon's DVs.